Jakarta Post – To reduce the number of private cars on capital’s streets, Governor Joko Widodo "Jokowi aims to launch 20 new Transjakarta routes connecting elite housing complexes, including those in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta, to existing bus lanes.

During the launch of new Transjakarta routes connecting one of Jakarta’s oldest elite housing complexes, Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) in North Jakarta to the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta on Wednesday, the governor said he was upbeat that his latest strategy would persuade middle-to-upper class workers to switch to public transportation.

"We are targeting to connect 20 housing complexes, mostly elite ones that have park-and-ride facilities, to Transjakarta corridors. The buses are convenient. We expect residents to switch from private cars to Transjakarta buses," he said.

The Jakarta Transportation Agency already has 346 buses to serve the new routes.

"We are recruiting drivers; we will select the best ones. Whenever the human resources are ready, we weill launch the new routes one by one," Jokowi said.

The bus fare has been set at Rp6,000 (49US cents), double the price of economy-class Kopaja and Metro Mini fares.

Jokowi emphasized that the presence of the new public transportatino means would not affect existing bus routes that were operated by PT Kopaja and PT Metromini. "The Transjakarta buses target totally different passengers than Kopaja and Metromini," he said.

The PIK-Monas route, which will be served by 18 buses, will be integrated with the Transjakarta Corridor 1 serving Blok M-Kota and Corridor 12 plying Pluit-Tanjung Priok. It will also be integrated with Kota and Gambir Stations.

The buses, painted yellow and red like Corridor I buses, are standard Transjakarta single buses and their interiors also follow the style of most Transjakarta buses.

The buses will depart from Pluit fresh market and stop at a number of locations before entering a Transjakarta bus lane, including Cordova home-office compound, PIK Hospital, Muara Angke bridge, Green Bay/Bay Walk Pluit, Pantai Mutiara and Fatahillah Museum. The new routes, which will be managed by PT Transjakarta, will operate from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. at a frequency of 10 minutes, according to the agency.

Jakarta Transportation Agency head Udar Pristono was upbeat that residents would eventually leave their cars at home and use Tranjakarta buses to get to work. "We are optimistic because we are providing competitive service," he sad, adding that the agency had regularly disseminated information regarding the new route to residents. Udar added that the agency would launch another route connecting Kalibata City in South Jakarta and Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta next week.

The Tanah Abang-Kalibata City route – to be served by 12 buses – will be integrated with Transjakarta’s corridor 1 and corridor 9 serving Pinang Ranti-Pluit, as well as with Tanah Abang, Dukuh Atas and Kalibata stations.

The city administration is keen to expand the Tranjakarta fleet, aiming to procure 3,000 buses this year. The city expected better management of the bus rapid transit system operator as it was granted a new status as a city-owned company earlier this year.

Jokowi is recruiting experienced executives from state-owned and private companies to lead PT Transjakarta and is expected to announce the selected candidates sometime this month.